Voces del Prado

Service to tourists in the 1970s

Francisco Martín Ortiz, Administrative Technician (copies), 1966-2015

Years ago, when we came in every morning, I remember there was a man in front of the lower Goya door, he was a midget, by the stairwell leading up to the upper Goya door, who sold postcards and had this cart that was sort of like a motorbike coupled with a cart. He had his postcards, he spoke a bit of English and would call out to tourists and sell them postcards. He was there for many years, he became an institution here. The man's name was Ricardo, we really liked him because he was a charming fellow and we always talked to him. He was always there, he'd come along with his motorbike and something like a platform, park it into place, take out his postcards and he'd start selling them …. but of course there was a catch: the tourists wanted to send out their postcards, so what we did was sell them the stamps, the Prado Museum sold them the stamps at the copy office, we would affix the stamps, and then when I left I would walk home towards Cibeles Square and Banco de España (Bank of Spain building), and I would stop by the Post Office to drop off the postcards that were to be sent to different countries.